Protect Places of Worship
ICE and the Trump administration have made it harder for communities to live, gather, and worship with heightened immigration enforcement at houses of worship. It empties pews, destabilizes congregations, and undermines the conditions that religious freedom requires.
Ask your members of Congress to protect local communities by passing the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act (H.R.1061/S.455) into law.
Why do we need the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act?
Houses of worship are spaces of conscience and community. When people fear that attending services could expose them or their families to immigration enforcement, they may stop gathering and worshiping.
For decades, the United States had a policy in place to limit immigration enforcement in sensitive locations, such as churches, schools, and hospitals. But, those were rescinded in a Department of Homeland Security memo issued Jan. 20, 2025, declaring that “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches.”
Religious freedom depends on people being able to live, gather, worship, and participate in civic life without fear. BJC supports the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which would establish protections against limitless immigration enforcement at or near houses of worship, schools, health care facilities, child care centers, and other sensitive locations. The bill includes an exception for exigent circumstances, such as an imminent threat to public safety.
These protections would allow congregations and community institutions to fulfill their missions without placing the people they serve at unnecessary risk. Congress should ensure that people can enter a house of worship, attend school, receive medical care, and seek essential services without fear.
Use our simple form to contact your members of Congress directly. We also encourage you to call the offices or, if you are able, set up an in-person visit.
Additional Resources
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What Would This Bill Do?
Read our 2-page document that explains what’s at stake and what this piece of legislation addresses.
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Immigration Enforcement Preparedness Guide
We have a guidebook for faith communities who are looking for resources and action steps.
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How ICE Turned Immigration into a Church-State Power Struggle
Conflicts between immigration enforcement and religious institutions are “attacking fundamental social arrangements of how people show up for each other, pray together, and serve their neighbors,” said BJC Policy Counsel David Segal to Rolling Stone.
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BJC's Immigration Page
How does immigration policy affect religious freedom in everyday life? How is BJC addressing immigration? We have a page dedicated to the intersection of religious freedom and immigration.
Interested in Learning More?
If you want to get involved in the work to pass the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, let us know! We can provide you resources to reach out to your member of Congress or help you set up a meeting. Contact BJC Policy Counsel David Segal to see how you can be involved.
Advocacy For PSLA
The work to protect houses of worship and other sensitive locations is ongoing. It takes more than one meeting, more than one touchpoint. Here are other ways we’ve been sharing the need for this bill with decision-makers.
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We’re gathering clergy and constituents to meet with lawmakers.
Hearing from our sources on Capitol Hill that there were some key senators who were perhaps persuadable to support the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act as part of an appropriations package in spring 2026, we gathered clergy and laypeople in Georgia, Michigan, Utah, Missouri, Maine, Oklahoma, Alaska, Virginia, and New York to talk with their senators – via Zoom – about why this matters to them. They joined with members of clergy of other faiths, too, to show the widespread need for protecting parishioners of all faiths.
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We’re sharing your stories.
During conversations surrounding the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, we heard that some members of Congress were doubtful about the impact of ICE enforcement on faith communities. BJC collected stories from people across the country about the harm happening by ICE enforcement on church grounds and sent them to key members of the Senate during deliberations on funding the Department of Homeland Security in February 2026. We turned those into packets to share information from real people as the senators weighed their decisions, and we hand-delivered them to offices.
